Glasgow abroad in times of crisis How in the world, the effects of the credit crunch are felt in Glasgow, the city 'more' Scotland's largest and third largest in Great Britain. During the age 'gold of the British Empire, Glasgow was in fact the' Second City 'of the Empire "and was known as" the workshop of the world "' cause there were more yards' largest in the world, which were built in the liners more 'immense and more' luxurious (and the Titanic 'was one of the few that we did). For this, you can 'say that Glasgow' was the first true cities' industrial the world. But the story of Glasgow held in honor of another Serb, to be then become, in conjunction with the progressive collapse of the empire, the first city 'post-industrial world. In the postwar period, Glasgow has suffered a depression that has lasted 30-40 years, during which time the levels of poverty 'were such that the city' enjoyed 'a very bad reputation that saw her often defined as a' hot ' depressing in all of Western Europe. Indeed, the population of the city 'has been halved due to a redefinition of its borders - in fact, in the city' have been few well-off areas like the West End, and many poor areas in whose work was more 'than you could hope for. E 'was only in the eighties that the city' has begun to recover, the buildings have been cleaned up, changing the face of the city ', and the economy of the city' has begun to move towards the service sector, especially call centers . Of course, a job in a call center did not pay enough to support an entire family (as the wages of a laborer on construction sites would have done), but the call centers were at least better than nothing.
This preamble is used to contextualize the situation in which Glasgow is now in the current recession. As the world now, and 'much more' globalized than at first (try to say, however, 'to those who worked in shipyards and ships built for customers in every corner of the earth!), of course Glasgow is suffering as suffering from all the cities'. The first casualty of the credit crunch and 'was the real estate market: before the crisis, here in the West End, the apartments were sold at astronomical prices, and it was perfectly normal that the sale price to arrive at a 30-40% more' than the base price. The demand was very strong. It was impossible for first-time buyers "to buy houses here, and those who were already 'masters immediately re-invested the proceeds in the new home, purchased for the force to a very high price. An absurd situation, insomma, ma pochi se ne lamentavano perche’ ci sentivamo ricchi tutti (o quasi). E’ ormai da piu’ di un anno che il mercato immobiliare qui a Glasgow e’ fermo come mai prima. In pratica, e’ pressappoco impossibile vendere la propria casa, a qualsiasi prezzo. L’unica cosa sicura e’ che passeranno tanti anni finche’ non torneremo alla situazione di un anno e mezzo fa, quando sembrava che i prezzi avrebbero continuato a salire senza soluzione di continuita’.
Poco dopo l’inizio della crisi immobiliare, ha avuto inizio la crisi sulla “high street”. Una miriade di grandi nomi del retailing britannico hanno cominciato – apparentemente d’improvviso – a fallire. La Woolworths, una delle catene piu’ storiche e amate del paese, si e’ trovata nei guai, e nonostante la forza del brand, nessun investitore ha voluto salvarla. Nel giro di poche settimane, tra dicembre e gennaio, piu' di 800 filiali Woolworths hanno chiuso le porte per l’ultima volta, comprese quelle filiali che guadagnavano bene, come quella qui a Byres Road (nel cuore del West End). Decine di migliaia d'impiegati si sono trovati disoccupati, con poca speranza di trovare un nuovo lavoro, almeno nel breve termine. Qualche giorno fa, ho sentito, invece, che il brand e’ stato comprato e che Woolworths sopravivera’ – ma solo online, con qualche decina d'impiegati (una storia molto contemporanea, questa). In ogni caso, a Byres Road non si vedra’ mai piu’ l’insegna della Woolworths e chissa’ quanto tempo passera’ finche’ non trovino un’altra societa’ per occupare l’ampio sito ex-Woolworths. Ed e’ mica solo al West End che ci si sente la crisi. Fino all’anno scorso, Buchanan Street, in pieno centro, e’ stata la settima strada al mondo in termini dell’affitto richiesto per un negozio. Indubbiamente, scendera’ adesso nella classifica, ma chi sa davvero fino a che punto scendera’? Stiamo a vedere.
Nel frattempo, le banche britanniche hanno subito una crisi che a loro sembrava impensabile. Northern Rock per primo, poi Bradford & Bingley, RBS and HBOS (the latter is the fifth largest banking group in the world in terms of capital) have been saved by the taxpayers. Billions of pounds have been allocated to ensure that did not go to ruin, despite the contrary opinion of many taxpayers that were in the banks themselves to get the world to the brink of bankruptcy. Just this week the CEO - mostly Scots, coming from these parts - saved the banks were forced to explain actions and decisions taken in recent years before the "jury" of the Treasury Committee. On the one hand, are willing to shoot in bursts excuses, but at the same time are unwilling to give up their prizes (we're talking of millions of pounds each). This is because 'ultimately do not believe they were the root cause of the crisis. You do not hear often appoint the Enron these days, but it seems that the behavior of those at the top of Enron and 'was precisely the model of those at the top of the banks saved. It seems that the end which made Enron and its leaders was not enough to deter the bankers an approach all too similar. Also in Byres Road, the five branches of different banks that have been there so far will be reduced to a branch of one bank, Spain's Santander.
The news in recent months do not hear nothing but bad news about the economy. It is said that we have entered a crisis comparable only the Wall Street Crash "of 30 years. Sara 'true, but the situation today and' quite different from that at the time. The Crash of 1929 has had dire consequences for Europe a few years later (while America and 'entered a period of economic growth that has made it the only superpower on the planet). As I said before, the world now, and' more 'globalized than before, but in the era of so-called Islamic terrorism, we must only hope that the consequences of the current crisis will not be comparable to those of 1939-45 (World War II.) Gia 'in recent weeks we have seen the reaction against the Italian engineers who work temporarily on a project in England. In tempi come questi, il nazionalismo troppo facilmente si fa sentire.
L’elezione di Obama alla presidenza americana e’ forse l’unica vera fonte di speranza in questi giorni. Con lui al timone, forse riusciremo a voltare pagina e a scatenare la ripresa economica. A dire la verita’, come ho cercato di spiegare all’inizio di quest’articolo, Glasgow ha gia’ visto di peggio, e la gente grintosa di questa citta’ non si lascera’ rovinare dalla recessione. E’ una questione di tempo. L’unica cosa e’ che non si sa quanto tempo ci vorra’…
di Gordon Fisher
